Chocolate is a highly energetic food with a high fat content. Currently and at the European level, the composition, sales description and definition of the different types of chocolate are legally determined by Directive 2000/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 Jun. 2000 relating to cocoa and chocolate products intended for human consumption. Conventional chocolate can be in solid phase and in liquid phase. Generally, in solid phase (droplets, bars, chips and microdroplets, powder) the chocolate quality is assured for 2 years. The chocolate in liquid phase must be stored at a temperature close to the 45° C. and maintained under gentle stirring causing an expensive storage, handling and transportation. In these conditions the quality of the chocolate in liquid phase is assured for four months.
One of the ways for improving the transportation, handling and dosage conditions of the chocolate is to obtain it in the agglomerate powder form. Furthermore, this type of chocolate agglomerate requires much less expensive storage conditions with respect to a conventional chocolate in liquid phase or in solid phase since only the humidity needs to be preserved. The storage time, assuring the quality of the chocolate agglomerate powder, is equivalent to that of a conventional chocolate in solid phase.
One of the most used techniques in food industry for obtaining food powder is agglomeration. Agglomeration can be defined, in general, as a process during which primary particles are bound such that large porous particles are formed (Palzer S., 2005, “The effect of glass transition on the desired and undesired agglomeration of amorphous food powders.”Chemical Engineering Science, 60: 3959-3968). Certain physical properties of the food powder such as the apparent density, flowability and dispersibility are improved with agglomeration. Thus, the agglomerate products have a series of advantages such as the wettability and solubility making handling them by the consumers easier and they are therefore preferred against the traditional non-agglomerate products. However, agglomerating foods with a high fat content such as chocolate have not been achieved until now.
There are several patents and patent applications describing the use of agglomeration to obtain chocolate, but only agglomerating chocolate with low fat content (less than 18%) has been achieved. Lowering the fat content of the chocolate entails, besides a series of technical limitations, a huge drawback in terms of maintaining the organoleptic characteristics of the conventional chocolate and the palatability (resulting in a chocolate with a less pleasant texture). Until now, a chocolate with agglomerate structure which maintains the organoleptic characteristics and the nutritional profile of conventional chocolate of which the fat content, depending on the type of chocolate, can vary from 18 to 53% by weight (Directive 2000/36/EC) has not been achieved. In the terms of the present invention, conventional chocolate (also known as ordinary chocolate) is understood as that obtained by following the conventional method for preparing chocolate widely described in the state of the art, such as for example in the review by Afoakwa and Fowler (“Factors influencing rheological and textural qualities in chocolate—a review”. Trends in Food Science and Technology, 18, 290-298 (2007)).
As has been previously mentioned, different patents and patent applications describe the use of the agglomeration to prepare chocolate agglomerate with a low fat content. International patent application WO 02/087351 describes a method in which granulated chocolate powder with a fat content of 18% is prepared. In said method the reduced fat chocolate powder is treated with steam to generate an agglomerate which is subsequently granulated by means of drying. On the other hand, patent EP 0941666 describe a process for obtaining chocolates agglomerate with low fat content in which water is mixed with sucrose, cocoa mass, cocoa butter and milk derivatives which are subsequently subjected to a process of agglomerating at low temperatures using a lyophilizer. In this patent the author uses the term chocolate to refer to a product similar to milk chocolate which does not meet the Directive 2000/36/EC in terms of minimum fat content required for the milk chocolate (25% by weight). The chocolate analogs generally have organoleptic characteristics like the conventional chocolate and normally include cocoa derivatives in their composition. In the terms of the present invention, chocolate analog is understood as that product which does not meet the Directive 2000/36/EC and which is marketed as food product equivalent to the chocolate. Among the chocolate analogs are those chocolates with a low fat content. They also include the products prepared from cocoa derivatives and fats different from the cocoa butter but not equivalents and the products having in their composition more than 5% of fats equivalent to the cocoa butter.
Therefore, unlike the processes disclosed in the mentioned documents, a true chocolate with agglomerate structure having the organoleptic characteristics of the conventional chocolate and meeting the Directive 2000/36/EC is obtained with the method of the present invention. Furthermore, it is physico-chemically stable at a temperature greater than or equal to 40° C., maintains its flowability at a temperature of up to 50° C. and is crunchy.